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Switzerland unveils world's steepest funicular railway

CNN Travel

January 18, 2018 @ 11:54AM

(CNN) — It looks like a string of giant hamster wheels, but the world's steepest funicular railway is being hailed for its revolutionary design.The cabins on the 52 million-Swiss franc ($52.6 million) funicular in the Swiss alpine resort of Stoos resemble rotating drums that keep passengers level as the gradient changes.The 1,720-meter track will run from the valley floor near Schwyz to car-free Stoos, which sits on a lofty plateau beneath the Fronalpstock mountain at 1,300 meters (4,300 feet) near Lake Lucerne.

The track, which travels through the mountainside for part of its journey, rises 743 meters along gradients as steep as 110%.